by Zach Smith | Sep 17, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
In the fall of 2010, I made a visit to the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is 17 miles from my home, to see the National Champion Bald Cypress. Here’s a photo I took of the tree:
This massive tree, reputedly the largest of any species east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, measures 17 feet in diameter at breast height. It’s 96 feet tall. To give you an idea of the relative scale of this huge tree, here’s a photo of me and The Champ:
Notice that I’m standing in front of the left-hand part of the trunk – I couldn’t get the whole thing in the frame because I was using the timer on my camera and had to hustle back. Anyway, I think you can see just how big this guy is. And by the way, you can slip up inside the buttress to the right of where I am. It’s awesomely cool.
I couldn’t help but think it would be great to propagate this venerable old tree, so I set about to collect some cones. That was problematic, as there just weren’t that many. But I guess when you’ve been propagating for 1500 years or so, you get tired.
So I took my trove home and put them into a sandy mix in a big tub, then I waited. True to form, only about a handful of the seeds sprouted – they were from a very old tree, right? Normally with BC, you can pretty much count on 100% germination.
Anyway, I eventually potted the seedlings into their own containers, then just fed and watered and left them alone – more neglect, you might say. But there’s not much to be done with BC seedlings, aside from making forest plantings. Over time, my Champ progeny dwindled to only two. But they grew nicely, and that pleased me greatly.
It’s an axiom that bald cypresses, left to their own devices in a pot, will get to looking pretty shaggy to downright awful in the foliage come this time of year. These have been no exception. Here’s what I mean:
You can see a little green foliage on this lovely lanky six-year-old seedling; this is what sprouts back out after the spring foliage gets tired and turns brown followed by black and crispy. The tree won’t die, but it sure doesn’t look like much. But I think I can change that.
So here we are after shortening the specimen, wiring it out and removing the soil from the roots. Nice roots, which is no surprise. Coiled roots, which is no surprise. That’s what comes when you leave any piece of material in a container for too long. The roots do what they have to do to grow and survive, and if that means coiling around the pot a bunch of times that’s exactly what they’ll do.
A closeup of the roots. I had to cut some growing through the pot’s drainage hole; this is the rest.
I added a piece of wire to the trunk – it was too straight before. Doesn’t this make all the difference?
Then it was time to pot the tree. I had this nice Chuck Iker round, and thought it would work just fine for my Child of the Champ. In a few minutes this is what I had.
And now for the million-dollar question: What’s wrong with this picture?
You may recall that last week I had written about a three-tree oak planting which was just in the wrong pot. A key point of that study was the fact that I had a very tall main tree in a rather large – too-large – pot. So when I repotted the planting into a smaller pot, which accentuated the height of the main tree even further, all of a sudden the composition improved.
That’s just not going to work with this tree. Isn’t that interesting?
I had this Byron Myrick oval that had previously held a yaupon bonsai – another case of a pot being too big for the tree in it. In this case, though, I think I have a composition that makes the tree actually look in proper scale. What do you think?
The trunk base of this specimen, incidentally, is 1″ in diameter. It’s 32″ tall. I have a flat-top in mind, a good style for a tall slender cypress.
This tree should push new growth in a week or two, barring unforeseens. I plan to offer it for sale when I’m sure it’s recovered.
Next year I’ll be potting my other Child of the Champ. It’s grown more strongly than this one, and actually has the beginnings of root buttressing in a relatively small diameter trunk base. I’m anxious to see how it turns out.
by Zach Smith | Aug 14, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Hornbeam, Potting, Styling, Sweetgum
These two bald cypresses came out of the swamp together, having grown for some time as natural companions. I could see a two tree flat-top pairing right off the bat. Knowing I could create the entire crown of each tree in a bonsai pot, I went ahead and put the pair in this Byron Myrick oval. Then I waited.
It took a couple of months, but I finally got enough growth going to start wiring the new leaders. Not much to look at, are they? (Actually, they grew like crazy bushes; I took off over 90% of the growth before doing this wiring.)
A couple months later, we’ve got some good growth going. Time for a trim and more wiring.
They’re back to not looking like much, but if you strain you can see the crown taking shape on the larger specimen. I’d predict that by the end of next growing season, I’ll have a really nice flat-top structure in place. I’ll keep you posted.
Here’s a sweetgum bonsai that I just made today. It too doesn’t look like much, but that’s because I cut off all the large leaves in order to promote a new crop of smaller leaves. I’ll diligently pinch the growing tips, which is the secret to training sweetgums during the growing season. I should have a nice bit of foliage on the tree by next month.
This is a small specimen, with a trunk base of 3/4″ and a height of 14″. What I like about it is, it’s a good example of the natural growth habit of sweetgum, which is columnar. By keeping the branches short, I can emphasize this great feature of the species.
The pot is a beautiful oval by Chuck Iker. In case I get fall color this year, the pot color will complement it very nicely.
Finally, I wired up this Eastern hophornbeam, Ostrya virginiana, which I had direct-potted this past winter when I collected it. I cut off the leaves the other day, to promote a final flush of growth this season.
Hophornbeam is one of the relatively few species of trees that holds its leaves through winter – American beech and Southern sugar maple being two others in my neck of the woods. They also feature a nice rough bark, versus American hornbeam with its smooth bark. They’re difficult to collect, as they don’t like to have their roots disturbed.
This specimen has a 1″ trunk base and is 11.5″ tall. Another great Chuck Iker pot.
by Zach Smith | Aug 13, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Styling, Wiring
I’m sure you all remember this Bald Cypress, Taxodium Distichum, which I defoliated on July 14th. You were kind enough to help me pick the new front of the tree. It’s surprising to many folks that established BC can be defoliated in summer, but the fact is it not only does no harm to the tree, it actually produces multiple benefits. For one, you get another round of styling work done. After defoliation, you have the opportunity to “see inside” the tree and make some styling decisions. Second, you avoid the inevitable “tired” foliage that BC bonsai tend to get in the August-September timeframe. They grow so vigorously that it’s common for some of the interior foliage to suffer and turn brown, then black. This goes away with the defoliation and does not return. Finally, the trees are much more likely to produce a nice fall foliage color, the beautiful bronze you may have seen before, as a result of the defoliation.
Two weeks later, you can see the new foliage appearing. As a general rule, all of the thicker branches on a BC will rebud in various spots along the length of the branch. With the smaller ones, it’s an iffy proposition. Sometimes they die, sometimes now. But they’re easily replaced with fast-growing shoots, so it’s not a significant issue.
Here’s a shot from today (8/20/16). The foliage volume is coming along. I did a shearing of new shoots that were pointing straight up or were too long, and removed shoots that didn’t belong. All of this is in preparation for showing the tree at our local club fall show in November. I’m in hopes of having fall color to show.
I know a lot of you are looking for bald cypress stock, and we should have a lot more next spring. As always, I can’t recommend BC more highly. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a species better suited to bonsai.
I’d love to hear any comments you may have.
by Zach Smith | Jul 16, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Pruning, Styling, Wiring, ZPC
We started following the tale of this Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, in early 2015. This is a big cypress with the classic fluting, in this case fluting that runs high on the trunk. These trees really make a statement!
Here we are, just under 18 months later. Are BC strong trees or what? This growth is typical of newly collected cypresses, which are powerfully apically dominant. This tree wants to be 20 feet tall again, no matter what it takes.
For the purposes of bonsai, however, I can’t let that happen. So this is the perfect time to get into the tree’s structure and see what I’ve got, and see what I can make of it.
If your cypress is strong you can defoliate it in July (assuming you live in the South). This gives the tree plenty of time to put on a new, fresh set of foliage in time for fall. It also greatly facilitates wiring and shaping the tree. Here you can see some wire I had put on last year, when the tree was first coming out. Now I’ve got a lot more branches to work with – too many, in fact, so it’s time to edit, wire and shape.
Now I’ve got my basic branch set for this future bonsai. Because the tree was trying desperately to grow taller, the branches in the body of the tree are relatively thin. This is typical, and you as the bonsai artist must overcome it. This is done by balancing the growth of the tree. The apex is going to do fine without any coaxing; the trick is to not let new buds and shoots take hold in the crown and launch themselves skyward. The tree will keep on trying, so I’ll come in and remove buds as needed to keep the energy in the lower part of the tree.
This specimen has a trunk that’s about 6″ across 6″ above the soil surface. The root spread is in excess of 15″. The height to the chop is 28″, and I anticipate the finished height of the bonsai will be 38-40″.
What do you think of this tree? I’ve love to hear any comments.
by Zach Smith | Jul 14, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care
Last week I posted the latest work on this Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum. I defoliated and moved it from the growing tub I had it in – because last year it suffered with chlorosis and needed some nursing – back into its wonderful Chuck Iker home. This is the result of last week’s work.
The other day I was walking among the benches and happened to look at this tree from a different angle. I was struck with how terrific the trunk base looked from what was essentially the back of the tree. So I got to thinking, “Did I pick the right front when I started out?” So I turned it and have been studying it for the past few days. I’m still not sure, but I think I may have found a better front for the tree. But I’d like to hear from you. Here are two alternative fronts:
This view really shows off what has been the back of the tree, but which can easily become the front. In addition to the really substantial base, the curve of the trunk is nicer. Also, the “shoulder” bump that makes this tree unique really stands out.
Here’s a third option, where the tree has been turned slightly from the above view. The curve of the trunk is somewhat muted in this arrangement, and I’m not sure I like the way the base looks as well either. But it’s certainly a viable option.
So what’s your take? Please leave me a comment and let me know which of the three fronts you prefer.
by Zach Smith | Jul 10, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting, Styling, Wiring
Last year this Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, suffered a bout of chlorosis. This is a condition that isn’t predictable or readily explainable – the causes are well enough known, but you can have a single specimen on your benches suffer under the same growing conditions as others that do not exhibit any symptoms at all.
I removed the tree from its bonsai pot and placed it in a growing tub, and treated it with Ironite®. I was able to see improvement within a month or so. I left the tree alone, just watering and feeding as normal, through the remainder of the 2015 growing season.
This year the tree grew like crazy, with no sign of chlorosis. As you can see, however, we’ve reached that point in the year where lack of air circulation and heat can cause the foliage in the interior of your trees to die. While this doesn’t affect the health of the cypress long-term, it’s unattractive and serves no useful purpose to the tree.
July is the perfect time to defoliate healthy bald cypresses. Though this tree suffered with chlorosis last year, I judged by the look of the growth this spring that the problem was behind me and it was okay to go ahead and defoliate. I also decided to push the envelope a bit, and put the tree back in its lovely Chuck Iker home.
This shot makes it easy to see how much growth the tree has put on! If you compare this photo with the first one, it’s clear how well it’s developing. This is especially evident in the progress I’m getting in the crown. The grow and chop process works beautifully, provided you take the time to fully execute it.
Here’s a close-up of the apex. You can see how far it’s come. I’ve grown and chopped it three times before today, and now it’s time for round four.
The tree is wired out now. Notice how well the branch development is coming along – I’m getting ramification and the branches have thickened up nicely. There’s more to do, of course, but the right techniques properly executed will complete the development of this bonsai.
And finally, the tree back in its pot. The trunk measures 5″ in diameter 4″ above the soil surface. It’s currently 32″ to the tip of the leader. The finished height will most likely be 30-32″.
I should have new growth in two weeks, assuming the tree doesn’t object too much to the treatment it got today. The foliage will be fresh and green, which will allow me to show it in the fall.
I’d love any feedback you might want to share on this bonsai.
